[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 124 (Friday, June 27, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 34611-34612]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-16847]



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 Rules and Regulations
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  Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 124 / Friday, June 27, 1997 / Rules 
and Regulations  

[[Page 34611]]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Commodity Credit Corporation

7 CFR Part 1435

RIN 0560-AE94


Sugar Loan Program Crop Year Definition and Loan Availability 
Period

AGENCY: Commodity Credit Corporation, USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The proposed rule on the sugar loan program crop year and loan 
availability period, published in the Federal Register on April 2, 
1997, at 62 FR 15622, is adopted with changes as a final rule. The 
final rule defines crop year for the sugar loan program as the Federal 
fiscal year and extends the loan availability period to the whole 
fiscal year. The final rule conforms to current statutory language by 
removing the restriction that supplemental loans, which permit sugar 
collateral to be repledged for a second loan in the following fiscal 
year, will be offered only on sugar from sugarcane or sugar beets 
normally harvested in July, August, or September.

EFFECTIVE DATE: June 27, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel Colacicco, Farm Service Agency, 
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), STOP 0516, 1400 
Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-0516, telephone 202-690-
0734.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Executive Order 12866

    This rule has been determined to be not significant and therefore 
was not reviewed by OMB under Executive Order 12866.

Federal Assistance Program

    The title and number of the Federal assistance program, as found in 
the Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance, to which this final rule 
applies are Commodity Loans and Purchases--10.051.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    It has been determined that the Regulatory Flexibility Act is not 
applicable because CCC is not required by 5 U.S.C. 553 or any other 
provision of law to publish a notice of final rulemaking with respect 
to the subject matter of this rule.

Environmental Evaluation

    An Environmental Evaluation with respect to the rule has been 
completed. It has been determined that this action will not have 
significant adverse effects on environmental factors such as wildlife 
habitat, water quality, air quality, land use, and appearance. 
Therefore, neither an Environmental Assessment nor an Environmental 
Impact Statement is needed.

Executive Order 12372

    This program is not subject to the provisions of Executive Order 
12372, which requires intergovernmental consultation with State and 
local officials. See the Notice related to 7 CFR part 3015, subpart V, 
published at 48 FR 29115 (June 24, 1983).

Paperwork Reduction Act

    A request for comments to revise the previously approved 
information collection (OMB number 0560-0138) was published in the 
Federal Register with the publication of the proposed rule on April 2, 
1997, at 62 FR 15622. No comments were received. The revised 
information collection package will be submitted for OMB approval.

Executive Order 12998

    This final rule has been reviewed in accordance with Executive 
Order 12998. The provisions of this final rule preempt State laws to 
the extent such laws are inconsistent with the provisions of this final 
rule, are not retroactive, and are not subject to administrative appeal 
remedies.

Background

    A proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on April 2, 
1997, at 62 FR 15622 to simplify program administration and ensure 
conformity between the statutory language of section 156 of the Federal 
Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (the 1996 Act), 7 U.S.C. 
156, and the implementing regulations. The proposed rule redefined the 
1996 crop year as the period from July 1, 1996 through September 30 
1997; redefined the crop years for 1997 through 2001 from the current 
period, July 1 through June 30, to the Federal fiscal year, October 1 
through September 30; and redefined the 2002 crop year as the period 
from October 1, 2002 through June 30, 2003. The proposed rule reaffirms 
that the loan program expires on June 30, 2003, so as not to extend the 
program authority through administrative action.
    The proposed rule extended the loan availability period from 
October 1 through June 30, to the whole fiscal year, except for the 
2002 crop year which ends on June 30, 2003, reflecting the statutory 
language of section 156(d)(2). This removed the restriction that the 
Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) could only make loans during July 
through September on sugar from sugarcane or sugar beets normally 
harvested during that 3-month period as previous legislation had 
required. All sugar collateral pledged during July through September 
would be eligible for supplemental loans during October of the 
following fiscal year. The proposed rule also recommended elimination 
of an obsolete provision governing the 1995 crop year price support 
program.

Summary of Comments

    Four sugar industry associations commented on the proposed rule. 
Three supported all proposed rule changes. One recommended that the 
restriction be retained that CCC can only make supplemental loans on 
sugar from sugarcane or sugar normally harvested in July, August, or 
September.
    The commenter agreed that the language of the 1996 Act no longer 
explicitly limits supplemental loans to sugar from sugarcane or sugar 
beets normally harvested during the July-September period as did the 
language of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990. 
However, the commenter contends that there is nothing in the 
legislative history of the 1996 Act to suggest Congress intended to 
expand the eligibility for supplemental loans. The commenter also 
contends that: (1) If such broad loan eligibility is authorized by the 
1996 Act,

[[Page 34612]]

it is discretionary and the Secretary is not required to implement it; 
(2) broadening supplemental loan eligibility will complicate rather 
than simplify program administration; and (3) such action will increase 
uncertainty as to forfeitures and double the period that processors may 
forfeit their loan collateral.
    CCC reaffirms its position that the statutory language clearly 
provides for any domestically grown sugar to be put under loan during 
July through September and that all sugar put under loan during that 3-
month period is eligible for a supplemental loan. Both sections 156 (a) 
and (b) of the 1996 Act state: ``The Secretary shall make loans 
available to processors of domestically grown* * *.'' Section 156(d)(2) 
states: ``In the case of a loan made under this section in the last 3 
months of a fiscal year, the processor may repledge* * *.'' The only 
discretion is on the part of the processor who may choose to, or not 
to, repledge collateral for a supplemental period.
    Section 1435.105(g), which describes the conditions for the 
supplemental loan, is simplified by removing redundant language that 
states that loans made in July, August, or September must be settled by 
September 30. Section 1435.105(f) clearly states that all loans made 
during the fiscal year must be settled by September 30.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 1435

    Loan programs/agriculture, Price-support programs, Reporting and 
record keeping requirements, Sugar.

    Accordingly, the proposed rule modifying 7 CFR part 1435, which was 
published in the Federal Register on April 2, 1997, at 62 FR 15622 is 
adopted with changes as a final rule to read as follows:

PART 1435--SUGAR

    1. The authority citation for 7 CFR part 1435 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 7272 and 15 U.S.C. 714b and 714c.


Sec. 1435.1   [Amended]

    2. Section 1435.1 is amended by removing paragraph (a) and removing 
the designation ``(b)'' from paragraph (b).
    3. In Sec. 1435.2, the definition for ``Crop year'' is revised to 
read as follows:


Sec. 1435.2  Definitions.

* * * * *
    Crop year for the 1996 crop means the period from July 1, 1996 
through September 30, 1997. Crop year for the 1997-2001 crops means the 
period from October 1 through September 30, inclusive, and is 
identified by the year in which the crop year begins. For example, the 
1997 crop year begins on October 1, 1997. The 1997 crop of sugar beets, 
sugarcane, or sugar means domestically-produced sugar beets, 
domestically-produced sugarcane, or sugar processed from domestically-
produced sugar beets or sugarcane during the 1997 crop year. Crop year 
for the 2002 crop means the period from October 1, 2002 through June 
30, 2003. Sugar from desugaring molasses is considered to be from the 
crop year the desugaring took place.
* * * * *
    4. Section 1435.105 is amended by revising paragraphs (a) and (g) 
and adding paragraph (h) to read as follows:


Sec. 1435.105  Availability, disbursement, and maturity of loans.

    (a) To obtain a loan, a processor must:
    (1) File a loan request, as CCC prescribes, no later than September 
30, 1997, for the 1996 crop year, no earlier than October 1 and no 
later than September 30 of the applicable crop year for the 1997-2001 
crop years, and no earlier than October 1, 2002 and no later than June 
30, 2003, for the 2002 crop year, with the State committee of the State 
where such processor is headquartered, or with a county committee 
designated by the State committee;
* * * * *
    (g) Processors receiving loans in July, August, or September may 
repledge the sugar as collateral for a supplemental loan. Such 
supplemental loan shall:
    (1) Be requested by the processor during the following October;
    (2) Be recourse or nonrecourse depending on which type of loan is 
in effect according to Sec. 1435.102;
    (3) Be made at the loan rate in effect at the time the supplemental 
loan is made; and
    (4) Mature in 9 months minus the number of whole months that the 
initial loan was in effect.
    (h) No loans will be made after June 30, 2003.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on June 23, 1997.
Bruce R. Weber,
Acting Executive Vice President, Commodity Credit Corporation.
[FR Doc. 97-16847 Filed 6-26-97; 8:45 am]
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